Mass Effect: Imperfect Future
by Red Geist
Summary: Commander Shepard recalls a strange ordeal as he prepares for his suicide mission, which leads to some interesting innovations. First in a two part story arc, leading up to the events in Mass Effect: The Dark Era
1. Prologue

Prologue

Shortly after his heroics in the Skyllian Blitz, Commander Shepard had his pick of posts (basically) when he returned to duty in the Alliance. He asked to be the man in charge of a small group of marines serving as the security on an exploration vessel, the SSV Prometheus. The ship was originally sent to study the Maroon Sea cluster for two years, but only weeks in things went terribly wrong. The following events happened four years before Mass Effect 1…

--

"Scanning the nebula now, Captain." A young woman whom Shepard could knew as the CSO, or 'Chief' as her subordinates called her, stated as she tapped buttons on a console and the holographic interface in front of her. "Twenty-eight percent Argon, four percent Neon, sixty-eight percent copper dust, and a few chunks of Aluminum from an asteroid that past through it no more than five days ago."

"Can we salvage any of it?" The Captain asked, her head hidden by a cup of coffee.

"I could probably fix some of the damaged bulkheads on Deck 3 with that aluminum." The tall and intimidating Chief Engineer walked over to the hemispherical glass viewport. The dark red nebula tinted everything red, the consoles, the floors, and the crew. Shepard was nearly blinded by all of the reds as he stepped onto the command deck.

"You're just in time, Lieutenant." The Captain swiveled her chair to face Shepard and put her coffee down on one of the cream white armrests. "It seems Jerry has a job for you."

"You shouldn't talk to him like that, Fiona." The XO, Commander G. Richards, was once again offended by her tone towards Shepard. "He's not just another jarhead that's only good for seeing to your every whim, this man is a tactical genius, and the Hero of Elysium."

"It's all right, Commander." Shepard put his hands up, signaling for him to calm down. "If the Captain wants a dirty job done, my team and I will handle it. And I don't think my achievements should earn me special treatment, after all I did ask for this post."

The Captain rose from her chair and approached Shepard, she took a good look at him and sighed. His posture reminded her of the man Shepard replaced, a muscle head named Lange. He was the main reason she disliked soldiers so much.

"Shepard, could you pleas--" Her sentence was cut off by a sudden shockwave. It shook the small vessel violently, causing the bridge crew to tumble to the ground, including Shepard. Consoles blinked with 'warning' and 'danger' symbols while an alert klaxon sounded off repeatedly. Shepard and the other crewman looked to the viewport as the red color faded from the room. What was seen after no one could believe.

A hole hundreds of kilometers wide opened in the nebula. It spiraled outward quickly and soon was large enough to block out all other objects once visible in normal space, even the stars. Soon after, the stars reappeared but the nebula was nowhere to be found. Many of the crew noticed the stars were in the wrong place, and the system's star Matano was much larger and brighter than it is now. The CSO got to her feet and began scanning what was on the other side of the hole by quickly typing away at her console. "Captain, you're not going to believe this."

"Lay it on me." She replied while brushing dust of her uniform.

"I've compared the star positions on the other side of the anomaly to our databases, including that star in the foreground, and the results… They don't make sense."

"Just tell me." The Captain started to get annoyed.

"We are sitting in front of a temporal rift, connecting the present to the same point in space… 38,000 years in the future."

"What?" Commander Richards jumped up and checked the scan results at the Science station. "Captain these scans are correct. But the rift is unstable, and could close at any minute, I don't recommend going into the hole.

"Detecting multiple ships coming into scanner range." The Chief Engineer had long since recovered and worked his console as he spoke, but the crew was focused on the events that played out from the dome-shaped viewport.

Three dark grey warships came into view by exiting odd looking wormholes, the vessels had an almost gothic theme to them, and each ship bore the symbol of a two headed eagle. Three others came from the opposite direction, obviously decelerating from FTL travel. These vessels were gunmetal grey and boasted large green crystal pylons. Soon after they were within visual range of each other the vessels opened fire.

"They're hailing us." Shepard noticed from the comm. station, the communications officer was knocked out in the shockwave, so he took over.

"Open a channel." The Captain ordered as she returned to her chair.

A large screen appeared inches from the viewport, there was static at first, but then a man in a formal uniform appeared. He had a large silver apparatus covering the left side of his face, with a bright red lens replacing his eye. Medals covered his torso and a two headed eagle stretched across his hat. "I don't have much time, so please, ask no questions." The image shook periodically as the ships traded weapons fire. "We know you are from the past, farther than any of us can fathom. This tear in space-time is a weapon of desperation. I have opened it to send a warning. My future, rather humanity's future, is a dark and grim time now. Here, humanity has no hope, here there is only war. For ten millennia our race has endured, surrounded by heretics, traitors, and aliens. I understand that--"

"Commissar, two Imperial Battle Barges coming out of warp space. It's the Adeptus Astartes." A voice off-screen stated with a deep, almost mechanical voice.

"Confirm their identity to be sure, the last thing we need are Necrontyr and heretics." There was a brief silence, but a figure in the man's eye lens nodded to him. "What Chapter?" The man asked.

"The Ultramarines, sir." The uniformed man seemed to whisper prayers of unimaginable gratitude to someone called 'The Emperor', and then he continued his harrowing speech.

"I hope this small look into our present can help change your future." The transmission cut out just before two pale blue warships came out of the strange wormholes. They were designated by the flipped omega symbol on the rear bulkheads of the vessels. Seconds later, the green crystal pylons on one of the metal ships glowed bright and constructed a huge whip-like laser that tore through the abyss of space and cut one of the engine sections from one of the blue ships. A flash of colors and an explosion ensued, propelling the removed section towards the temporal rift.

"Helm, hard to port!" The Captain screamed as the titanic chunk of ship grew closer to the rift. When the Prometheus was far enough away, the tear suddenly closed, effectively reducing the wreckage to half of its original size. The crew was in shock, not entirely aware of what they had just witnessed. The ship slowly turned to face the floating remains of the severed section, which still dwarfed the Prometheus many times over. Shepard could make out dozens of decks, but no signs of life.

An hour later, Shepard and his team of four other Marines (for a crew of twenty, five was a normal sized security staff) went on an away mission to study the ship. All sorts of scans could show no signs of life at all in the section of the vessel, but many rooms were shielded or too cluttered with debris to get a clean reading. And less than a fourth of the rooms had any atmosphere, which was declining rapidly. The Prometheus moved towards the bottom of the wreckage and opened the port airlock. Shepard and those under his command jumped through the absolute zero of space and onto the edge of the deck. He watched while his four subordinates crossed the gap, and when they were all accounted for, they pressed on. Shepard attached a spotlight to his assault rifle and led the team as they explored the dark hallways.

The ship lacked internal bulkheads in most areas, leaving the only walls to be rows of cables and exposed conduits. The lights flickered periodically, and some of the soldiers could see the cables short and spark periodically, but in a vacuum the hallways made no sound. Oil and other colored liquids floated out of the openings in the wires and cords, floating forever in the abyss of space. At the end of the hallway stood a thick steel door, it slid up into the ceiling halfway before jamming. With a little problem solving, Shepard and another marine used all of their might to force it open. There was no one on the other side, but a large suit of armor was laid out upon a table…

--

Mass Effect: Imperfect Future takes place during the events of Mass Effect 2, coming soon.


	2. Chapter 1: Problem

Chapter One: Problem

1430 Hours

Human Colony (Terminus Systems): Horizon

Shepard's first impression of the Collectors could only be summed up in one sentence, 'hard to kill'. Sprinting and rolling from crate to crate, barely avoiding dim yellow rays of plasma. He was getting frustrated with the fact that he was fighting a defensive battle. Every time he picked his head up to line up a shot he risked losing his own head from the sheer abundance of fire. Shepard devised a quick fix solution by pulling out his new sniper rifle, attaching an incendiary thermite mod to the ammunition, and priming up the small device under the armor in his left shoulder. Apparently a standard in front-line Alliance trooper armor, it served as a temporary adrenaline injector, heightening the users' perception to inhuman magnitudes for short periods. Shepard lifted his sniper to eye level, found the nearest Collector, and activated the device. The storm of enemy fire slowed significantly, beams seemed to freeze in midair, and Shepard had the perfect shot. A well placed shot to the head and a highly flammable bullet made the kill a gore-iffic spectacle. Quickly pulling back below the crate, the adrenaline rush wore off, and he had run out of sniper thermal clips.

"Nice shot Shepard!" Garrus Vakarian yelled from behind a wall, also hiding from the hail of laser fire. "Doing that a few dozen more times would be nice." Shepard pointed to the empty chamber where the last thermal clip was, and Garrus comedically shrugged.

"Don't just sit there, Commander! Do something!" Miranda seemed to be doing fine with her biotics and her spot on pistol shots. But she was becoming exhausted, and she was wounded.

Just as she finished speaking, Shepard took a lucky shot to the side of the head, piercing the armor plating on his helmet and burning his scalp with boiling hot plasma. Shepard hit the ground and gave out a loud yell of pain. Garrus was worried for a moment, but he had seen this before. When Shepard would come to his feet, the Collectors would soon perish. Miranda sprinted over to Garrus's position, grabbing a handful of thermal clips from a suitcase left by a colonist when the Collectors were arriving.

"You're not going to help him?" Miranda asked Garrus, breathing heavily while loading thermal clips into both of her pistols.

"He's hurt, but he's not down. You've never seen Shepard when he's tired, frustrated, and in pain. Give him any weapon in that state, and well…" Garrus tried his best to put it into words, but he simply pointed to the angry Shepard.

Rage clouded Shepard's mind, all pain seemed to vanish, all thoughts of danger faded away. He dropped his sniper rifle and pulled out his Avenger assault rifle. The Commander got to his feet and sprayed fire into the horde of insectoids, ignoring trivial things such as enemy weapons fire. Garrus and Miranda gave him some support, but he did the heavy lifting.

Any enemy not killed in his first barrage hid behind a crate or a wall, but this could not save them. Shepard ran forward, shooting any Collector that tried to cower from his judgment. Miranda was not exactly in awe, rather befuddled by this sudden change in Shepard. She studied every aspect of him for two years as she and a team of scientists worked to bring him back, she thought he was incapable of feat such as this. She was about to inquire about it further to Garrus, taking an eye off of him for a moment, only to find him the gunfire had stopped. Shepard sat down against a wall and gasped for air, the pain had come back.

--

Shepard sat in front of the armor locker in his quarters, looking at the wreck in front of him. Dents and holes matched the wounds on his bandaged torso and limbs. The dirt and mud on the greaves and gauntlets of the armor had piled up over the past few weeks since he woke up. His armor, to be blunt, was falling apart. Until it could be fixed he would have to rely on the Terminus Gear hard-suit. He thought back to his heartbreaking encounter with his best friend, Kaiden Alenko, back on Horizon Colony. Shepard couldn't blame Alenko for thinking the way he did given his own situation. Whether he liked it or not, his mission was a Cerberus operation. They funded the mission, provided the ship, and even brought him back from the dead. But he thought it was going too far when he said this…'Do you remember that project of yours? The one involving your encounter six years ago. You were so close to a breakthrough when we went down. If you want to prove to me you are not Cerberus, finish it, and make sure it works.'

He noticed the gold, two-headed eagle hand painted onto his left pauldron had a deep scratch running through it. The image struck a cord deep in his heart, and a new sense of determination and resolve burned inside of him. He knew two years had passed since he worked on the project, and many of his former contacts thought he was dead. But some way, some how, he would make it work.

--

Six years earlier

It took the strength of Shepard and his four comrades to lift the huge suit of armor onto the gurney in the small cargo hold. It was a good thing the science lab was on the same deck because none of the marines thought the elevator could take the load. With time, the gurney made it across cargo and into the science lab. The CSO pointed to the large table in the center of the room, which was unfortunately higher than the gurney. Shepard sighed at the inevitability of lifting this suit again. Many of the scientists were in awe of the eight foot tall suit, still reeling from the events that played out on the bridge. Shepard let out a sigh of relief when the suit was on the large table. He gave it a good look, and said to himself that he had to have one of these.


	3. Chapter 2: Hypothesis

Chapter Two: Hypothesis

"Joker, set a course for Earth. We need to make a pickup." Shepard ordered his helmsman, making sure to hold on to a console or a wall when they passed through a Mass Relay. After a few seconds of the ship vibrating from the sheer speed of interstellar travel, they exited in the Serpent Nebula.

"What are we picking up, sir?" Joker asked.

"A few things, but to be blunt… a suit of armor, about 420 hours of video logs, and a book."

"May I ask of what purpose do these items serve?" The disembodied voice of EDI (aka Tricia Helfer) asked from the console to Joker's left, her avatar appearing as a simple blue sphere.

"Not yet, but I will explain it soon." Shepard grabbed Joker's chair as they jumped into the next Mass Relay. "EDI, could you please ask for Tali, Professor Solus, Garrus Vakarian, and Ms. Lawson to the Comm. Room, please."

"Yes, sir." The A.I. replied.

"Tell me when we are in orbit, Joker." He answered with a salute without taking his eyes of the helm.

--

By the time Shepard entered the Briefing Room, the others were all accounted for. Miranda and Garrus stood to the left while Tali and Mordin stood opposite. EDI's avatar appeared in the center of the table, somewhat eager to hear what Shepard had to say.

"First things first." Shepard looked to Miranda, she was still bandaged up from her fight with the Collectors. "Everything you hear in this meeting stays in here. I don't need your boss's input on this at all."

"It depends on what this is about." Miranda smirked while speaking.

"I know what this is about." Garrus leaned forward and tapped to the gold two-headed eagle on his right forearm, making a slight ping. "You couldn't wait more than a week of being back to start up your little project again."

"Are you really going to show us the stuff this time?" Tali asked in an excited tone. "I know we are going to your home world for some reason and you always said--" Shepard nodded to her, making Tali chuckle softly while cracking her knuckles.

"Turian and Quarian reactions suggest they have already been debriefed. But Quarian here only two days and Vakarian four, perhaps this transpired on the Normandy SR-1." Mordin talked aloud trying to decipher the situation.

"That's right Mordin, they were involved two years ago. But the project never got off the ground."

"Are you gonna fill us in?" Miranda asked with impatience in her voice.

"Fine…" Shepard activated the hologram interface console on the far side of the table and fed in a red isolinear chip. The room went dark as the image of the Normandy was replaced with a floating cube made up of television screens. One by one they played footage from the exterior of a small Alliance vessel, and others showed footage of unknown origin. They could make out men in large suits of blue armor fighting on a multitude of worlds, from jungle to volcanic, from gothic cities to arid deserts. "Six years ago, I served as the Security Officer on an Alliance exploration vessel called the SSV Prometheus. We were sent on a two year mission to explore the Maroon Sea cluster, but three weeks in something happened that changed our lives forever." Shepard switched all of the screens on the cube to show the exterior and interior footage of what happened next. "A temporal rift thirty-six kilometers in diameter opened right in front of us, linking our space-time to the same point only 38,000 years in the future. It was deliberately opened by a man we only know as 'The Commissar' as a warning to us." Shepard then played the message of the man in the green uniform, surrounding the image with a frame of smaller screens of the six ships battling at 'knife fight' range. Miranda was in awe of it all, humanity in such a state when people look like the man on the screen. Mordin was silent, quickly taking in all of the information with his brilliant, calculating mind. Then the 'Ultramarines' intervened, causing the wreckage to go through the rift, the footage stopped after that. The lights went back on, and a separate set of holograms appeared. "I took my team to inspect the wreckage of the aft section, and there were no people in that section when it went through. But, we found a suit of armor that was meant to fit an 8-ft tall man, a book, and a few hours of video."

"Eight feet, you're kidding right?" Miranda was hesitant to believe what Shepard said.

"These are not normal humans, but super soldiers called Space Marines. I can't go into too many details without confusing you, because it's all linked. Basically…" Shepard thought hard about how to word it. "Humanity in the 41st millennium is run on a religion, an unwavering obedience to a man called the Emperor. Ten thousand years before this message was sent, this Emperor created the Space Marines. They were so superior to humans that they could save us from utter destruction at the hands of armies of evil aliens. All we know is that just as they were about to succeed, the Emperor's trusted advisor fell to the 'Chaos Gods' and took half of the Space Marines as his followers. This war had been going on since, and humanity then stood surrounded by traitors, anarchists, and all types of aliens."

"Not to be offensive, Commander, but are any of the Council races in this conflict?" Mordin asked quickly.

"There's where it gets strange. No signs of the asari, batarians, geth, turians, salarians, volus, elcor, quarians, or even any evidence of the Mass Relays or the Citadel at all." Shepard replied.

"38,000 years is a long time, unfortunately that bears ill news for non-humans." Garrus added.

"And where did you get all of this information?" Miranda crossed her arms, grimacing when she lifted her left arm.

"We found 420 hours of footage, some of it was taken from the HUDs of frontline troopers, some news footage from around the galaxy, some were personal logs, and some served as video tutorials for constructing weapons and armor." Shepard turned off all of the holograms and removed the red chip.

"Commander we are in orbit of Earth. Anything further, sir?" Joker asked over the intercom.

"Not yet, Joker, but I'll keep you posted."

"Anyway, I need a new suit, and reverse engineering this Space Marine Power Armor is my best armor. We could also use plenty of tech against the Collectors: weapons, improved shields and powers, for six years I've been fighting red tape for a chance at this. We were close to a breakthrough when I took down Saren, and now in the face of a larger threat I swear I will make this happen."

"As always, you lead I follow." Garrus stood tall as he pledged his allegiance in his friend.

"As will I, Commander." Tali added.

"Yes very interested. Will need copies of video files and inspect suit as soon as possible." Mordin quickly stated.

"Fine, I'll help you. I owe you for help me with my sister." Miranda said.


	4. Chapter 3: Materials

Chapter Three: Materials

"Sorry, I don't have parts that match what you want." Leard, a turian merchant nodded to Shepard. He looked at the datapad that was handed to him by the Commander, it contained images of pieces of armor, and little did the merchant know was that the armor pieces belonged to a suit from the future.

"But in your catalogue we found parts that are similar to the pieces on that list." Shepard was getting annoyed, he had been to every armor merchant on the Presidium and Zakera Ward for two days and he had little to show for it.

"The items in my catalogue are for Turian and Krogan suits, and besides they are only aesthetically similar. I've never seen parts like this, not for a human suit. I mean where did you find this? Some of this stuff uses tech I've never seen."

"No luck at the stores on Level 27, Commander." Tali interrupted them as she entered the store and returned to Shepard's side.

"I'll tell you what, I know this quarian on Illium. He left the Flotilla to make a life for himself there…" The turian added as he handed the datapad back to Shepard.

"Would that quarian be a man by the name of Resho Far vas Neema?" Tali asked the merchant.

"Tali Zorah, I presume?" The turian asked. "Resho had nothing but great things to say about you, like your tour of duty with Commander Shepard. Which I assume is standing right next to you, is he not?" Shepard nodded. "I'll give him a call, tell him you're coming, he can build this stuff for you, and since you two know each other I'm sure he'll drop the prices."

"Thank you very much, kind sir." Tali made a small bow and left the store with Shepard.

"So, how are you acquainted with this Resho Far?" Shepard asked.

"The closest word in human vocabulary is… We were the equivalent of 'neighbors' since childhood. I remember all of the silly things he would do, even for a quarian. One time… well I'll never forget his happy and innocent attitude, because he's changed so much since he left."

"Did the Terminus Systems make him worse for wear?" Shepard asked.

"No, it was all for the better. He's mature, he's acting like a real man now… It just frightens me how powerful time is."

"You're underestimating the man's maturity level."

"Maybe, but all kidding aside, Rensho is a savant when it comes to armor tech. I recommend we go to Illium and ask Liara where to find him. But if he's settled down, he'll be working at a large high-end assembly line or factory of some sort.

"Then time is of the essence Tali. To the Normandy!"

--

"It's good to see you again Shepard." Liara T'soni grinned as Shepard and Tali entered her office. "Please tell me you're here not looking for trouble this time. Looking at your actions from an outsider's point of view is quite… interesting. First you tear up the Dantius Towers, and then you kill half of the Eclipse in Nos Astra simply to aid that Justicar and your new First Officer. You cause so much destruction it's almost humorous. But I remember our nasty little setbacks when we were traveling the galaxy together."

"It's nice to see you again, Liara." Tali said as she sat in a chair in front of Liara's desk.

"Likewise, Tali. And the fact she is here means that I can rest easy, I hope."

"I don't think I ever told you about my time on the Prometheus, did I?" Shepard asked, crossing his arms and preferring to stand rather than dirty the chair with his broken armor.

"Once or twice, but you never said anything other than you served on it." Liara replied.

"To keep it brief, Shepard found tech from the far future that he can use to make himself a new suit of armor, as well as weapon upgrades for all of us on his squad." Tali added. "The man who can make it happen is an old friend of mine, a quarian named Resho Far vas Neema. A contact told us he works at a top-of-the-line factory here in Nos Astra."

"We were hoping you could track him down for us. I'll promise not to destroy anything if you do." Shepard smirked while waiting for Liara's reply.

"Now why do I not believe you? Give me an hour or two, I'll find your quarian." Liara tapped a button on her computer and put an earpiece in her left ear. She waved for them to leave and began making calls.

--

Shepard walked into the Tech Lab and found Mordin surrounded by datapads and holograms, all displaying chemical structures, schematics of the power armor parts, and other things Shepard could not understand (and perhaps never understand). "Found anything useful, Mordin?"

"Yes. Take a look at this." Mordin displayed a life size silhouette of Shepard in his normal armor away from the clutter around him. "Video logs from future show the creation of the soldiers wearing the suits."

"Yes, they are all super soldiers called Space Marines, I watched the videos too."

"Well given our current technology I cannot even begin to understand some of the implants these soldiers were or will be given, not sure of tense, never mind now. I mean these men could easily kill a bloodthirsty Krogan with their bare hands. Secondary vital organs, enhanced senses and nervous system, superhuman platelet count allowing for blood clotting seconds after injury, vast increase in height and mass, only requiring hours of sleep each week, and personal favorite the sub-dermal armor interface. Utterly impressive in my opinion."

"Can you do anything with this information?

"I can offer a list of minerals needed to make the same alloys that make up the power armor. However one problem still remains. The Space Marines use a power pack to maintain the suit's functions, but such a pack would…" He used the hologram of Shepard to visualize his theory. "It would slow you down; take up the space needed to carry a heavy weapon, sniper rifle, and assault rifle. And they use fission reactors so a few shots to the back and BOOM! No more Shepard!"

"I'll take you along when Liara finds us the quarian specialist; you can discuss this with him then." Shepard was about to leave when Mordin continued in a quieter tone.

"Shepard, there is one thing that concerns me. I looked through most of the video and found no trace of the other Citadel Races. I know thirty-eight millennia is a long time for any race, but this is… discomforting."

Shepard walked back over and patted Mordin on the shoulder. "If we somehow get in contact with the future again, I promise you I will find you proof that Humans aren't alone in that grim future."

--

Mordin, Shepard, and Tali took a car to the far northern border of Nos Astra, home to a large Armax Arsenal factory and the workplace of Tali's old friend. Setting the car down on a pad on the factory roof, the trio found a welcoming party waiting for them. A krogan in bone white medium armor approached the car.

"Ah, Tali Zorah. Director Resho was expecting you." The krogan was obviously a high ranking security officer, his deep voice and positive attitude gave Shepard the feeling that the factory was run by decent people, a true rarity in the Terminus Systems.

"Director? Does Resho Far run this place?" Tali asked as the krogan led them into the factory below.

"No, but he is the director of our R and D department here. He is a true talent, one of a kind. But Ms. T'soni made it very clear to my bosses that you need some time with Resho Far." The krogan activated a wide elevator and gestured for them to enter. The elevator slowly went down a multitude of floors. "The company has given him a week off for the sake of galactic peace. It's not everyday the first human Spectre comes around." The elevator opened, revealing a large workspace cluttered with gadgets, pieces of guns and armor, and dozens of datapads. The setting sun cast an orange light through the blue blinds on the far wall, making the quarian in crimson armor stand out.

"Tali?" The quarian asked.

"Resho…"


	5. Chapter 3x

Chapter 3x

Olympus Colony, the grand crossroad of the galaxy. Residing on the world just half an AU from the Mass Relay linking Sol, the Citadel, and other prominent human and turian colonies, it serves as the ever watchful vanguard protecting the relay from harm. It is home to nearly a million residents, and protected by nearly two dozen cruisers and frigates as well as four human-made orbital Mass Accelerator gun platforms. The colony is home to nearly as many climate zones as Earth, with a vast settlement in each. Home to many cultures and corporations, the colony is truly a sight to behold.

1300 Hours Local Time

"Attention MAG-One, this is Ground Control, deep space scanners show an anomaly 0.7 AU from current location, please verify visual, over."

"Ground, this is MAG-One. Anomaly sighted, looks like a storm cloud, over."

"Any luck scanning the thing? Over."

"We can't tell you much, but it isn't something we've ever seen before, over."

"MAG-One, keep eyes on it for now, over."

"Ground, the cloud is opening up…"

"Dear god what is that?" Chatter filled the airways as the 'storm cloud' opened like a tear in space, and something came through.

"What the hell?"

"All crewmen to your stations, this is not a drill."

"All ships prepare to mobilize and neutralize, it is not responding to hails, assume hostile."

A massive black ship emerged from the cloud. The hull was covered from bow to stern in demonic and gothic designs, casting a sense of dread and fear into those who gazed upon it. The only notable design was on the right side of the vessel, a huge demonic eye with eight arrows pointing in eight directions spreading out from it. Whenever someone tried to make contact with the vessel, and only a recording was heard.

"_We do not seek peace nor do we seek compromise. We have come from a time far beyond your comprehension to ensure your utter destruction. Death to the False Emperor and all of his followers._"

"All ships and gun platforms to full alert, target is hostile. Authorized to use lethal force, over."

Human, turian, and asari vessels unleashed a hail of plasma fire and torpedoes onto the black space hulk. The ship seemed to ignore the weapons fire as it continued to emerge from the cloud. The vessel was at least three times the size of the Reaper Sovereign when it was fully visible. The four human gun platforms turned to face the massive ship and launched shells weighing in at hundreds of metric tons each. Two slugs seemed to flatten on the hull and do no damage, but the others cut clean through the ship and it seemed to descend towards the planet. The vessel returned fire with a small amount of odd looking torpedoes. But each ship that took two hits from them were effectively crippled or destroyed. Then three of the gun platforms exploded from powerful laser batteries near the back of the ship.

"All ships retreat! Send a distress call to the Citadel and Sol to lock their relays! Someone put that fire out!"

"What do we do about the colonists?"

"_We do not seek peace nor do we seek compromise. We have come from a time far beyond your comprehension to ensure your utter destruction. Death to the False Emperor and all of his followers._"

"Tell them just to get the hell out of there!"


	6. Chapter 4: Procedure

Chapter Four: Procedure

Shepard struggled to lift his left arm after he finished attaching the newly built gauntlet to his arm. Unpainted the gauntlet was chrome and so clean he could see his reflection in the armor, but he was more focused on the weight. After a few moments of getting used to it, it was still too heavy for practical use.

"Here is where my invention comes in handy." Mordin approached Shepard and attached an odd apparatus that conformed to his back, with tiny diodes that lit up near certain parts in his spine. Mordin then kept it in place by taking a Velcro collar and wrapping it around the bottom of Shepard's neck once and attached it to the device, and finally taking three wires from the forearm of the gauntlet and attaching them to the new apparatus. "Try lifting your arm now."

The weight of the gauntlet became non-existent, allowing Shepard to try shadow boxing with the gauntlet. "How the hell is this possible?" Shepard sounded almost ecstatic.

"This is similar to Space Marine 'Black Carapace'. By coordinating outside signals with cybernetic implants in your spinal cord, could attune nervous system with armor function, basically multiplying your strength hundredfold when wearing power armor." Mordin replied.

"Wait, when did I get cybernetics in my spine, Cerberus didn't put any there." Shepard got a little nervous.

"Injected some last night while you were sleeping, almost got caught though. Had to sedate your fish, could have given me away."

Shepard shook his head, but gave it little thought afterward. "Is this all you've built so far, Resho?"

"Hardly, with Tali helping me for the past few days, we've almost finished the suit's internal systems. And thanks to the large supply of minerals and metals you've given us, the external plating will be done in about a day." The quarian replied.

"Shepard." Tali walked into the room from a laboratory located to the right of Resho's office. She had the Space Marine helmet in her hands. "I took your current helmet and put everything in there into this helmet." She handed him the rusted and worn blue helmet. "I could clean way the rust and dirt, but this thing needs a paint job.

--

Shepard returned to the Normandy and pulled a cardboard box out from under his bed on Deck 1 and brought it into the armory. Jacob was busy tinkering away at the new M-22 Eviscerator Shotgun, but stopped when he heard the box slam on the table.

"Need something, Commander?" Jacob asked as he stared at the box full of files.

"I need your help looking through some files, won't take long." Shepard took a step back and pushed the button to activate the comm. on the wall. "First Officer Lawson, please report to the armory."

"Okay, now I'm curious. What do you need me and Miranda for?" Jacob put down everything he was doing and walked over to the box of files. Immediately after, Shepard dropped a file the size of a textbook in front of him. Jacob noticed immediately the title on the folder, 'Normandy SR-1 Project: Godwyn-Pattern Boltgun'. Jacob looked inside to find notes, some pictures and OSDs of the Space Marine vids, and some pictures of what looked like a normal Assault Rifle. "Looks like you tried to replicate the gun they used, were you successful?" Jacob asked.

Shepard froze and remembered something he wished he hadn't…

_He was running to save Joker; the old Normandy was burning all around him. He past the elevator down to the cargo bay when he heard a large explosion, and he knew the cargo bay, which included the armory, was long gone._

_He had made a Boltgun back when he was investigating Saren. Thanks to Tali's genius, they turned the Spectre Gear rifle into a weapon from the future thanks to some carefully constructed weapon and ammo mods. But the Collectors destroyed it along with his old ship._

"I was successful, but it went down with the SR1." Jacob could tell it was a touchy subject, so he dropped it.

"What do you want me to do with this, then" He asked.

"We found a way to take normal ammunition blocks for standard weapons and turn them into high explosive, hollow-point rounds. It generates an outrageous amount of heat when fired, but Tali found a way around that too. But we didn't have thermal clips back then…" Shepard gave Jacob a devious smile, causing him to snicker.

"I'll get right on it." Jacob said right before Miranda came into the Armory. She smiled as she past Shepard, and he smiled back.

"Now what do you need me for?" Miranda poked through the box now considerably less heavy thanks to the file now in Jacob's hands.

"Any good at picking color schemes?"

--

The next day…

Shepard stared at the silhouette of the armor from inside a large translucent container; his new battle armor was produced through the efforts of many of his close friends and comrades and after so many years since his encounter on the Prometheus was his dream finally realized. He could smell the faint hint of paint and other chemicals from the container. He was surprised how Armax Arsenal paints their suits, which was similar to how people painted cars back in the 21st century (including baking on a layer of varnish to give it an extra shine). Shepard would still have weeks of physical training to get accustomed to the armor, but the Collectors would surely be at a disadvantage when facing him from then on.

"Commander, urgent message from Admiral Hackett at the Citadel." Yeoman Chambers walked into the armory, nearly panicking from the news she was about to give him.

"What is it?"

"Olympus is under attack, all combat personnel in orbit assumed lost, and they had to lock the relay to keep the attackers from reaching the Citadel or Earth."

"Who's behind this? The Geth? The Collectors?" Kelly fumbled a datapad with a picture of the attacking ship displayed on it. Shepard took one look at it before sprinting to wards the bridge where Joker was bickering with the disembodied voice of EDI. "Joker get us to the Citadel NOW!"


	7. Chapter 5: Test, Part One

Chapter Five: Test (Part One)

Shepard was almost glad to see the mass of Alliance warships a few kilometers from the Mass Relay on the edge of the Widow Nebula. He could see a few dozen frigates and four dreadnoughts, along with a few turian and salarian cruisers. Many were ready to move on a moment's notice, but Shepard needed to speak with Admiral Hackett.

"Attention Fifth Fleet this is the SSV Normandy, permission to dock with SSV Aconcagua." Joker stated over the comm. to the largest and newest ship in the group.

"Our sensors list you as a Cerberus vessel Normandy, you will be allowed to dock once you state your business." A female crewman replied.

Shepard took a headpiece and put it on. "This is Lieutenant Commander John Shepard (using default character for this story), your sensors are right, but my crew and I stand apart from Cerberus. I also have vital intelligence that will aid in the fight to come. This is the ship under command of Fleet Admiral Hackett, is it not?"

"Good to hear you're voice again Shepard." Admiral Hackett's voice echoed in Shepard's ears. "Request to dock granted, when you arrive you and whomever you bring with you will be escorted up to the bridge.

"Rodger that, Admiral." Shepard replied before turning to Joker. "Remind me to get that book I put in the hold before I leave."

--

A single Alliance soldier stood to greet Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob as the airlock linking the Aconcagua and the Normandy. The soldier's eyes widened at the sight of Shepard's new armor. Carrying his helmet in one hand and a suitcase in the other, the Commander was at least six inches taller in the armor. The jet black plating shimmered in the light and the bright white halls, light grey stripes were painted down the armor in intimidating patterns, with a single blood red stripe going down his right arm like always, and on his torso a bright gold two headed eagle built onto the armor reflected the man's shocked face. "Where's the bridge? The Admiral's expecting me." After a quick elevator ride up to the Command Deck, Shepard found some familiar faces, and some new ones.

Admiral Hackett, a turian, and a salarian stood over a holotable. When Shepard was close enough to the table Hackett reached out to shake his hand. "Now that you're here, you mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

Shepard inserted a chip into the table, displaying the image of the ship that attacked Olympus. "Before I start, may I ask for no questions until I'm finished? We don't have time for second guessing." Hackett and the alien commanders nodded. "This ship is from the future, and by the future I mean the 41st millennium. Due to a previous but less invasive incident, my crew and I have extensive Intel on this time period. The suit I'm wearing is a reverse engineered replica of the armor worn by super soldiers from that time period." Shepard then activated a slideshow of images from the hundreds of hours of footage from the Space Marine vids. They displayed the horrors of the numerous legions of traitors and heretics of the far future. There were pictures of decaying bodies on wooden pikes, vast cities set ablaze with (Chaos Stars) carved into the buildings, and dozens of first and third person pictures of Ultramarines fighting Chaos cultists and traitor Marines. "I don't know if they built their own time travel device or stole it from the men who contacted me years ago, but this will happen to us all if we do nothing."

"If this is true, then we will be outgunned and outclassed on the ground. They will have weapons far more advanced than ours, not to mention tactics far beyond our comprehension." The turian commander stated.

"Perfect solution to that." Shepard lifted the suitcase onto the table and opened it to reveal a large leather bound book. The words 'Codex Astartes' were embossed on the cover. "Hand written book from ten thousand years before we found it. Inside you will find tactics for every enemy ever encountered during that time period, including the enemy we are facing today. Those tactics include squad formations and the recommended equipment for each type of squad, battle plans for any type of terrain and weather condition, hell it's a fucking playbook for war. If these tactics haven't changed in ten thousand years they have to be useful.

"Give us the summary and I'll put them into use immediately." A voice stated from beside the elevator, Shepard hadn't noticed who it was because he was focused on Hackett at the time. The most significant feature about her was she used her massive sniper rifle like a gentleman's walking stick. Her name was Ming Hefner, many would recognize her because of the scandal she caused about ten years ago when she joined the Systems Alliance Navy, and mainly it was controversial because she was the heir to the richest family on Earth. Her father was the founder of the largest insurance company in the eastern hemisphere, and her mother was practically royalty, but she quickly found out that life was not for her. At age 19 she joined the Alliance Navy and rose in ranks for her excellent sniping and had a natural talent as a strategist. Shepard had served under her once or twice and knew her style well. She would find someplace high, bring only a headset and her sniper rifle, and essentially command the entire battlefield with her bird's eye view and quick trigger finger.

Finally meeting his former commander face to face, Colonel Ming was actually quite beautiful in person. Her ginger colored hair was tied into a small ponytail, but a few strands dangled from her scalp. She wore indigo colored armor, which was covered in an assortment of ammo packs and knife holsters. The silver rifle towered over her, which was rare indeed since most small arms folded away hollow space and attached to the user's armor. Her rifle most likely was one of a kind, sacrificing portability for power and ammo capacity. Shepard also noticed attached to her thigh were spare barrels for the rifle, each conforming to a different bullet size, he noticed the largest one was wide enough a soda can could fit inside.

"I'm assuming when we get there we will come up with a plan?" Shepard asked.

"No matter what you're still an Alliance Marine, Shepard. And thanks to the Intel you've provided, I will see to it you will have troops to command." Hackett stated. "Alliance troops."

"But I've never commanded on that scale before. You sure I'm up to it?"

"You're you Shepard, I don't think I'll live long enough to see the day you can't do something."

--

In the two hours from the Citadel to the Olympus Colony Relay, the Normandy forwarded the most vital information from the Codex. The book spoke volumes (no pun intended), even before the tactics saw the light of day many soldiers knew the book would change the way wars would be fought for millennia to come. Soldiers trained in heavy weapons formed Devastator Squads, veteran infiltrators and snipers formed Scout Squads, on the Turian vessels they outfitted hardened veterans with the heaviest armor and the thickest shields and made Terminator Squads, and every other soldier not falling into the specialized categories formed five-man or ten-man Tactical Squads.

--

"Decelerating from FTL in three… two… one…"


	8. Chapter 5: Test, Part Two

Chapter Five: Test (Part Two)

The wreckage of the dozen cruisers and orbital cannons floated endlessly in the silent void of space. Many of the ships had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid contact with the debris when they exited the Mass Relay. From the left viewport Joker could see an asari crewmen dozens of meters from the Normandy, here eyes wide open but lifeless, her hands grasping her throat begging for air in a universe devoid of it. She most likely died from being sucked out an exposed area of the ship she served on, but her body would most likely never be recovered. Joker looked away and focused on the planet. A noticeable black speck stood out amongst a chain of islands near the colony's equator.

"EDI, scan the planet's equator for any anomalies." Joker stated.

"Scans confirm enemy vessel has touched down near the equator. Coordinates 0.06-"

"Spare me the details, just send the coordinates to the other ships." Joker ordered.

"Coordinates received, Normandy. Be advised to stay clear of visual range of the ship. Recommend deployment zone east-northeast of target, location marked 0.00217 degrees longitude by 23.4001 degrees latitude." An unnamed comm. officer stated from the Alliance Flagship.

The Normandy accelerated slowly as it entered the atmosphere, and the darkness of space gave way to the dim orange of sunrise. Shepard, clad in his new Power Armor, walked to the bridge and placed his helmet on for the first time. When he activated it the lenses tinted and activated his HUD, some elements were exactly where they always were, and some new items appeared. The bright sphere that was the system's sun would have caused him to turn away, but the helmet dimmed the intensity of the sun's light, and seemed to stay on the sun even as Shepard shifted his head from side to side. Various life sign monitors appeared when his gaze past from person to person. One moment he could see Joker's heart rate, then a molecular scan of the hull, and then some unrecognizable alert monitor came up when he looked at EDI.

"A Colonel Ming Hefner just contacted us. She told me that the troops you will command will rendezvous with you on the ground two clicks from the LZ. Apparently that's also going to be the base camp." Joker said, allowing Shepard the time to get used to the helmet.

"How long until we touch down?" Shepard asked with a mechanical rasping effect added to his voice.

"Geez, is that what you sound like now?" Joker asked. Normally the Commander's helmet allowed a more seamless projection of his voice through the helmet's comm. system. With the Space Marine helmet this was not the case, whether the armor's creators had lost the technology to allow good voice projection or if this was done purposely Shepard would never know, but he liked the sound of it.

"You're dodging the question."

"ETA seven minutes."

"Tell Miranda, Tali, Garrus, and Jacob to armor up and meet me in the shuttle bay."

"Colonel Hefner specifically ordered any qualified squad members not coming with you were to report to her for assignment. I'm sure Mordin and Thane will be fine, but do you think she can handle the others?"

"They'll be okay."

--

Shepard and his trusted retinue of warriors jumped from the ramp in the shuttle bay down to the beach twelve feet below. Shepard's armor absorbed the entirety of the impact when he dropped feet first into the sand, as his friends followed he panned the battlefield. The cloudless sky and rising sun caused the water to turn a dim orange. He could see the ebony ship in the distance, no more than ten miles from his position. Most of it was obscured by unusually high sand dunes and rocks pushed aside by the huge vessel's landing.

"You said they were Chaos, right?" Garrus used his sniper rifle scope to magnify the ship, and then he quickly focused on the slightly hidden image of the chaos star on the ship's hull. "How do you think they ended up here?"

"We have no way of knowing how many time travel devices exist in the future, and in such a hostile galaxy maybe these people could have stolen it." Shepard replied.

"It's a mile to the base camp, and the sooner we get there the better." Jacob added. The engines of the Normandy roared as the ramp rose back into place and the ship sharply turned up. The back of the frigate got smaller and smaller as it shot into the sky and disappeared.

"Shepard, this is Thane." Thane stated over the comm. in his usual creepy whisper.

"I hear you, are you at the base camp?" Shepard signaled to everyone to synchronize their radios as they walked through the wet sand.

"We reached the camp just before you landed. Many Alliance soldiers are here, breaking into the squads the Codex dictates. She will give you the full plan once you are here. I recommend hurrying up."

--

"So glad you could join us Commander Shepard." Colonel Hefner stated from a sandy foothill surrounded by human and turian troops, who were armored in accurate camouflage.

"Do we have a plan?" Shepard asked as his heavy armor upturned sand and dirt as he trudged through the shallow water.

Ming activated a modified Omni-tool that stretched from her left palm to her shoulder, revealing a small holo map. "The ship knows we're here, but it seems they don't know where we are attacking from. It erected a massive kinetic barrier field around it about half an hour ago, which means no solid matter larger than a speck of dust is getting through that thing. Commander Shepard and his team (she was also addressing the troops around her) will punch through the northeast area, which will most likely have the lowest amount of security due to the large dune in front of it. They will climb the rock face/dune and cut their way into the ship from the top and fight their way out. Tactical Squads seven and nine, Devastator Squad three and Infiltration Squad one will accompany him. All other squads will coordinate with me and assault the exposed southeast. We will be deploying in ten minutes so take a piss or have a smoke before you ship off, because some of you will not make it back. The southeast has confirmed sightings of vehicles and walkers as well as barricades with heavy weapons behind them. Now remember, you fight today for the sake of not your species, but for your future. Am I right marines?"


	9. Chapter 5: Test, Part Three

Chapter Five (Test, Part Three)

Garrus perched his assault rifle on the top of a small boulder and waited patiently, the Alliance soldiers set up behind rocks blown from the plateau by the massive ship's landing. He stood shoulder to shoulder with the nine nameless human soldiers also waiting for the chance to strike, and he could make out the other three hundred or so troopers getting into position. In minutes the entire army formed a barrier around the exposed center of the Chaos ship.

"Check your targets, marines. We have them surrounded which mean every time you fire and miss you could cause a friendly casualty." Colonel Ming stated over the radio.

"The loading bay doors are opening. Here they come!" A squad commander added. Just as he did so, faint guttural screams coming from the underbelly of the dreadnought. They were too far away for Garrus and the others to hear, but the soldiers close to the ship heard everything.

"Die! Die primitives die! Die!" The first to emerge from the ship were horrifically mutated swarms of 'humans', most were armed with nothing but their two hands, but they certainly soaked up weapons fire. In moments high-velocity slugs fell upon the horde of mutants like a hurricane, Garrus could tell by the color of the bullets what ammo mods some squads were using.

"These are cannon fodder units. Don't waste heavy weapons on them." Jacob yelled.

"Keep them back! Don't let them overwhelm your position." Thane added.

"We need to break up their groups somehow." Grunt stated, "Fragmentation rounds, grenades, something. Urgh, I'm not good at problem solving."

"Anti-infantry round on its way." Ming replied with a soft voice, just before a projectile flew past Grunt's position and exploded in a cluster of the mutated humans. Most likely taking a position high and far away from the action, the entire field was visible for her to adequately command. The projectile fragmented into a storm of shards that spread far into the crowd, bringing dozens of them down in the first shot. Grunt was surprised to say the least, but in the end thought of snipers as cowards. But even a young Krogan knows not to make a sniper angry. Ming continued shooting into other clusters while the coordinated storms from the wall of marines kept the mutants from reaching the perimeter.

"Heads up! Here come the heavies!" Garrus yelled as he looked toward the ship with his scope. He could make out the signature figure of Power Armor, which was not a good sign. "Concentrate fire on the armored guys in back, they have missile launchers for rifles!"

"I don't care! I'm tired of letting a rock protect me!" Grunt leaped over the boulder that sheltered him from gunfire and charged, plowing through the dwindling hordes of mutant horrors and into the center of the towering Chaos Marines. He let the blood rage cloud his mind and free it of pain as he pulled out his Claymore shotgun and tackled one marine, shot it with his shotgun and roared like a feral beast. The surrounding soldiers tried to gun him down with explosive bolter fire but even if they had managed to land a shot it would never stop a krogan.

"Grunt what are you doing? Get back to your position now!" Ming ordered in a frustrated tone, but Grunt was not sane enough to answer her at the moment.

"We've got company." Thane stated after a large ship appeared in the sky. The roar of its engines suddenly coming to a halt even drew the attention of the Chaos soldiers.

--

Shepard lowered a hand to help Tali to the top of the dry and sandy plateau after twenty minutes of climbing the rock face. But even at the top of the plateau the top of the ship was hundreds of feet above them. Shepard guessed the ship was about a mile high or more.

"We need to cut our way in from here." Shepard stated. "Have anything that can be used as a blowtorch or a shape charge perhaps?"

"I'll need two or three grenades here, here, and here." Tali pointed to three points on the hull and then opened her hands in front of Shepard, he placed the disk shaped grenades in her hands and she attached them to the hull. The sides of the grenades lit up with a single fast rotating light, a clear signal for the both of them to get clear. They both ran to the left and further down the plateau until the grenades exploded in a horizontal column of orange fire. Shepard and Tali both drew their weapons and approached the opening, where a man with a shotgun stood waiting for them.

"You… How did you get that armor?" The man wore opaque yellow glasses and a cloth mask that hid his entire face and neck from view and was clad in pale brown armor over light grey fatigues. He also bore the signature two headed eagle symbol on his torso armor.

"Drop the weapon." Shepard pulled his Revenant Machine Gun from his back and pointed it at the masked soldier, the rifle was so long it closed the gap between them, "Now."

"You're after the time travel device, aren't you?" The soldier asked, seeming unafraid of the huge rifle pointed at him.

Shepard paused for a moment, thinking how the recovery of the time travel device never crossed his mind. He looked at Tali and then back at the masked soldier, "I am now."

"Many people in my time have heard of Commissar Grissom's experiment, and that it could have heavily affected this millennium. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that?"

"Just who are you?" Shepard moved the Revenant's immense barrel up to the man's obscured eyes. "I know enough to understand everything on this ship wants nothing but a universe filled with anarchy and genocide. How can I believe you are any different?"

"They… don't take prisoners often." Shepard lowered his gun and was deeply sympathetic for the soldier. "My squad was gone, and I was unlucky enough to be knocked prone rather than dead. They found me, and took me here. They aren't too good at keeping prisoners either." The man removed the yellow glasses to reveal dirtied skin and red eyes, and then he removed the cloth mask to show a third eye had grown on his left cheek. "They know mutation is heresy, and I would be shot if I ever returned. So they kept me here, as a final insult disguised as mercy."

"I trust you, soldier. I'm sorry I didn't at first." Shepard said, patting the man on the shoulder.

"You have my sympathy as well, but we have to get moving Shepard." Tali added.

"She's right, we need to find a way to destroy this ship or keep them from leaving this time period."

"It sounds like your comrades are holding their own against the heretics. But we must hurry."

"Come in Commander." The radio in Shepard's helmet came to life, "Shepard do you copy?"

"Read you loud and clear. Who is this?" He asked.

"Squad Leader Oburo, 5th Tactical Regiment, Systems Alliance—" Gunfire and static cluttered the channel, "Got a message from a Jacob Taylor, says to hurry it up. A Collector ship just dropped out of FTL and is in low orbit, dropping in heavily armed troopers as we speak. We can't handle a three-way war for much longer—" (More static) "Need help… Holy shit they have tanks."

"We need to get to that device and blow this ship to hell and gone."


	10. Chapter 5: Test, Part Four

Chapter Five (Test, Part Four)

Shepard threw his fist into a small but thick window pane on the hull to get a good look at the battle below, forcing glass in every direction. Clearing the jagged remnants with his reinforced gauntlet he then looked to the battle below, allowing the helmet to magnify the scene with the push of a button. As he surveyed the battlefield a chill went down his spine. Jet black tanks of all sizes emerged from the loading bay below and opened fire on the well fortified Alliance soldiers, multicolored lasers wreaked havoc on dozens of men while their bullets merely dented the front of the colossal vehicles. Only lucky shots from coordinated heavy weapons fire could manage to wreck the tanks if the squads aimed at the back of them. Shepard also noticed a few two legged vehicles as black as the tanks trudging through the shallow water, soaking up fire with ease while killing scores of men with laser cannons and missile launchers. After taking all of these sights in, he was equally pleased and terrified to see the Collectors. As swarms of the mythical insectoids descended into the fray, yellow particle beams painted fine lines across the battle below and certainly drew the attention of the Chaos soldiers. Muzzle flashes appeared in all directions in response to the unexpected third party.

"What's the situation?" Tali asked impatiently.

"Getting worse, there are too many enemies for our guys to handle. With the Collectors on one side and the Chaos warriors on the other…" Shepard replied as he pulled his head back inside the ship, "We need to find a way to even the odds."

"I have an idea." The masked man interrupted, "This ship didn't land gently, and there is some significant battle damage in some key points. We can use that to our advantage." The armored soldier said as he garbed his mutated face in the cloth and yellow glasses again, returning a sense of intimidation to his face. "But to accomplish such a task I will require your assistance."

"What do you have in mind?" Shepard asked as he carefully studied the end of the long hallway in front of him and behind him, keeping watch for patrols.

"One of the starboard gun batteries that happens to be right above the loading bay is damaged, and with a little effort it can be dislodged. If we can do that, we can drop it right on top of them." The soldier replied, with confidence slowly growing in his voice whenever he gazed upon Shepard. His armor may have been a replica, but to the masked man it was always so much more.

"I'm guessing you wouldn't need our help to just push it off, right?"

"Correct, we need a precise explosion to send it down to them. Do either of you have explosives?" Tali cracked her knuckles and activated her Omni-tool on her left arm. With her right, she pulled scraps and components from various pockets, using the bright orange gauntlet to create a strange contraption. The Imperial soldier noticed a deep sense of concentration in the alien's eyes, which just reminded him that she was an alien to begin with. "Can the xeno be trusted?"

"This woman has been at my side through the toughest fights in my life, the galaxy is certainly in her debt and so am I. I would gladly forfeit my life for Tali Zorah," Shepard approached the soldier, staring down his yellow glasses with equally opaque lenses, his bellowing voice now even more intimidating due to the voice filter, "I know how alien races react towards humanity in your time, but here we are equals. If I can't trust you to not lay a hand on her, we do not have a future together. Is that clear?"

"You've made your point…"

"One thermite pipe bomb ready to go, Commander." Tali was so enthralled in her own work she did not hear Shepard's conversation with the soldier.

"And you just happened to carry one around xeno?" The soldier asked.

"Not in one piece, I simply used some spare parts and some salvage to put this construct together, and the thermite can be chemically fabricated-"

"I am not a techseer, xeno. But if you say it will work, then it will do."

"Tell us where to put it so we can get on with it. Every second we wait leads to more casualties," Shepard added. The soldier pointed to the hall stretched out in front of them for nearly a quarter of a mile. He led while Tali and Shepard followed.

--

"The gun battery station is attached to the main ship through this bulkhead and another one about sixty or so feet down that way, but in the landing the other bulkhead was torn away." The masked soldier stated as he looked around, "This is the only wall attaching the gun turret to the ship."

"Everyone back away, this thing has a blast radius of several meters." Tali stated as she fastened the quickly fabricated bomb.

"You should try and attach it closer to the floor, to try and take out as much of the bulkhead as possible." The soldier stated. Tali looked at the man with an annoyed but silent stare, only turning away when the man backed away. Nonetheless she took his advice and moved the bomb to the lowest part of the wall.

"We have ten seconds… now." They all ran back the way they came for a few seconds after Tali pressed a button on the bomb, Shepard counting down the entire way there. When they reached a safe distance Shepard continued counting, when he passed ten he got worried for a split second. The explosion came but a moment later, shaking him nearly to the point that he lost his balance. Sunlight now filled the once dark vessel, illuminating the demonic corridors with bright orange light. They all ran towards the gun battery when they heard it fall, peering over the side of the smoldering remnants of the hallway. The colossal gun turret fell right on top of the center of the fighting, causing many vehicles to explode and sent a wave of water onto the entirety of the Alliance perimeter.

"Commander Shepard to Jacob Taylor, come in Jacob." Shepard yelled into the helmet's microphone.

An answer came on the radio after a few coughs, "Dammit Shepard, you went ahead and got me wet. Not to mention scaring the fucking shit out of me with a one hundred ton piece of crap dropped in front of me!"

"Couldn't have been avoided, Jacob." Shepard chuckled as he spoke in reaction to Jacob laughing in relief, but he quickly stopped.

"No… Half the crew was in the center of the impact!" Jacob yelled as he ran towards the huge graveyard of endless blood and jagged metal, "Thane, Samara, and Grunt! I need a team over here now!" Shepard stood up and focused only on listening.

--

The battlefield was now silent and empty save for the Alliance soldiers searching the rubble for the three specific warriors. The Collector ship was long gone, leaving behind its many dead. Everyone agreed the Collectors were aware of the humans from the far future, and a chance to obtain specimens and technology from such a far off era was worth any risk. The crushed malformed figures of the mutant berserkers littered the rubble, some were already dead from earlier wounds, and some whom were to strong and survived the gun turret falling upon them were shot by Alliance soldiers as they approached the pile of metal and crushed bodies. Jacob and the others rushed to the center after they heard the radio.

Samara rose first. She protected herself in a small biotic bubble when the turret fell to earth, now the assorted scrap gave way as she floated upwards, glowing with biotic energy. She floated to the edge of the remains of the colossal turret and exhaled deeply with relief, dropping her Vindicator Rifle and letting the biotic glow fade. Cuts and sores leaked purple blood, she looked to the Alliance troopers that attended to her injuries, and then at Jacob and the others and smiled. A few turians found Thane unconscious but mostly unharmed under the wrecked remains of one of the Chaos tanks, when they pulled him out he woke up briefly and gave the turians a gesture that he was okay and then fell out of consciousness. Grunt, who was at the center of the impact, heroically rose up from the rusted black metal with a violent roar. He looked around, eager to continue the fight, but he found no one.

"Primitives you have changed nothing." A bellowing voice echoed from the depths of the darkened underbelly of the ship. "You have challenged the might of an enemy far beyond you." A massive man in metallic crimson armor appeared. And even as he charged forward the same voice continued without change in tone, "As the disciples of anarchy and madness, we are your destruction." Ten dim spheres of light appeared scattered amongst the debris; slowly they grew into the forms of nine foot tall heavily armored Chaos Terminators. Atop their armor colored the blackest pitch were bloodstained golden armor trims and trophy racks covered in impaled helmets and skulls. Tusked helms with blood red lenses glowed an eerie red when they found themselves surrounded with new victims. Within seconds they let free storms of bolter fire on the scattered Alliance soldiers, and they returned fire. Grunt noticed the largest one in red armor was running towards him, and immediately saw him as a new target. Switching out thermal clips in his Claymore, he let out another roar and threw himself forward like a speeding freight train.

--

Little resistance stood between the trio and the time travel device. The spacious hallways built for the hulking Chaos Marines did little to help the few dozen traitor Guardsmen that watched the hallways. They were on edge to begin with, since they knew the battle outside was nearly lost since the Shipmaster went out to meet them head on with the Terminator Guard. But simply being aware did not protect them from the storm of golden fire unleashed by Shepard's Revenant Machine Gun. The masked soldier led the way around corners, down more hallways, through two elevators, and even having to fight three Traitor Marines in such close quarters. But after all of their ordeals, they still pressed forward.

Their destination was a tall cylindrical chamber, the metal walls and floor rusted and brown, its glass rotunda dirtied and veiled by a sheet of soot and grime. In the center of the room lay a cylindrical mechanical pedestal, firmly holding an object at the pedestal's peak in place. A glass cylinder containing a floating grey marble hummed faintly, inactive but still running. Surrounding it were dozens of consoles with unrecognizable symbols and buttons, most likely dedicated to studying or running the device. The trio slowly approached the device, keeping an eye on where they stepped since a fog covered the ground.

"This is it?" Shepard was surprised to say the least, "It's so small."

"Apparently the larger the device, the more freedom one has in choosing his destination." The masked soldier replied, working a control panel attached to the pedestal below the cylinder. "This one was first created by the Commissar Jonathan Grissom, in an effort to allow humanity to learn from future mistakes and keep the events in our time from happening. Long story short, we don't know if he failed or not, because I'm still in the same situation, wearing the same uniform, doing the same crap job and ending my career by getting fucking captured. And not to mention this ship managed to get a hold of the device."

"What does this mean? Do we do anything with the device?" Tali asked the soldier, who moved to a separate console on the far side of the room which consisted of nothing but dials and meters.

"Grissom realized he had more potential with the project than just reaching back into the far past, he wanted to keep the Horus Heresy from ever happening, but with a device that size, one could travel to any time, even to the point of the universe's creation. I don't have time to explain anything further, but right now, in my time, a huge conflict is about to break out over it." He returned to the cylinder, firmly grasping it with one hand, "Both of you get to the doorway, now."

"Why?" Shepard asked.

"I'm going to toss this to you, causing this room to explode moments later. Now don't make this difficult by trying to save me or change my mind. We have no time and you are the only one who can stop this." Shepard paused, but then followed Tali to the edge of the room.

"Oh and one more thing," The masked soldier removed the mask so he could speak more clearly, "If any Space Marines ask where you got this, tell them Lance of the 28th sent you." He removed the cylinder and tossed it to Shepard, causing the room to immediately erupt in flames. Shepard abruptly turned away as the canister reached his hands to shield himself from the scorching fire. It took both his and Tali's shields down, but they were both okay. Shepard looked to the burning remains of the room for a long while, and then turned to leave.


	11. Chapter 6: Results and Conclusion

Chapter Six: Results and Conclusion

Almost a week after the Chaos vessel appeared over Olympus Colony and left a permanent scar on the beautiful world, a proper account of the events was catalogued in a media frenzy while the Alliance and the Normandy crew helped rebuild in the wake of such destruction. The body of one Shipmaster Domatrus, leader of the Chaos Marauders, was left atop the pile of rusted metal and bodies. The Shipmaster died by a well placed shot to the head by one of Colonel Ming's sniper rounds, and his retinue fell to heavy weapons fire. Grunt went to Ming just as the battle ended and voiced his opinion of her interference, claiming he could have taken the champion by himself, but no matter how angry he got the Colonel remained calm, and eventually earned his respect.

Two weeks later, it was decided by the Citadel Council that the entire site was to be destroyed, allowing no need for a cleanup and no chance of any technology falling into the wrong hands. Shepard did not speak of his dealings with Lance or the fact he had the time travel device, allowing Mordin to study the apparatus in extensive detail. But then they tested the Reaper IFF, and the whole crew except for Joker was kidnapped…

--

"So the experiment was a success?" Shepard sat in Mordin's lab staring at the ship's drive core while the salarian tinkered with the cylindrical device.

"What experiment?" Mordin replied, looking over to see a slightly depressed Shepard, who was still distraught over what happened to the crew.

"The replication of Space Marine Power Armor. It's what I've been trying to do for six years, and it's the reason I dragged you into this mess." He replied without turning to face the scientist.

"Fascinating, you consider it a mere experiment after all of this? I mean no disrespect in any way, but this was more than an experiment to me, and many others. I mean you spend four years of your life getting closer and closer to learning from the mistakes that will come to pass thousands of years from now, only to die after your greatest triumph. Then when so much work is put into resurrecting you, your work continues. Without you, what would have happened when the Chaos Marauders attacked Olympus? This was no experiment, it was a life changing experience. It tested your ability to understand the fate of your species and stand firm in the face of the truth. You were determined to change that future and saved the present while trying to accomplish that, like when you used that Bolter rifle to kill Saren. In short, experiment: no. Stuff of legends: yes."

"Damn your right Mordin." Shepard said after a long pause, "And you know what, I'm going to keep my promise. I am going to use that device and I am going to find out what happens to the Citadel, and saving the universe as we know it might help too." Shepard now was standing over the device, and turned to leave as soon as he finished his sentence. "I'll be right back." He said as the automatic door closed behind him.

A few minutes later, Shepard marched into the tech lab fully armored in the Space Marine suit, his helmet in one hand and the other grabbing the time travel device. Mordin pointed to the black cylinder attached below the device and told him what buttons do what, and then Miranda walked in.

"You're not going anywhere without me." Miranda had donned maroon leather straps with dozens of thermal clips on each, and along with a pistol on one hip and an SMG on the other an X8-e Avenger Assault Rifle sat on her back. She walked over to him and stood on the toes of her high heel shoes to kiss Shepard on the cheek.

"Whatever happened to not having what I have, the ability to walk into hell itself?" Shepard asked her with one brow raised as Miranda grasped the time travel cylinder.

"Shepard I love you… And maybe you have changed me after all. If we don't make it back my computer will automatically send a letter of resignation to the Illusive Man." She turned away for a fleeting moment, but then pulled the helmet from his hand and put it on his head. "Seal it, we have no idea what's going to be on the other side." She pulled out her transparent rebreather and attached it to her face, making a hissing sound as it sealed to her skin. At first it fogged up, and she adjusted her jaw so she could talk more easily. Shepard tapped a button on his collar plate and pulled the neck underarmor down from the helmet to seal the suit. He nodded to her, and then he pushed a button on the cylinder. They both stared at the gap between their joined hands at the slowly rotating grey marble of floating matter.

"You can return to the present at any time with the press of that button," Mordin stated. "You will return to this exact position, moments after you left the first time. We will not go into the Omega-4 relay without you, so make sure to come back."

"Don't worry Mordin we-" Shepard and Miranda disappeared into thin air, leaving Mordin alone in the lab. He stood there waiting for a while, seconds turned to minutes, and still he waited. Then, he heard a crash, and the door connecting the lab to the CIC flew off its hinges and fell onto the floor in is lab. Smoke filled the air and alarms sounded, and Mordin looked to the cloud of smoke looking for the cause of the crash.

The End

--

Thank you for reading Mass Effect: Imperfect Future. If you liked it or want to continue the story, look out for Mass Effect: The Dark Era. In the sequel, Shepard and Miranda go toe to toe with the horrors of the 41st Millennium in the fight over the time travel device. Along the way, Shepard tries to solve the mystery of what happened to the Mass Relays and the Citadel Races, and runs into a few nasty surprises while doing so… Mass Effect: The Dark Era, coming soon.

Special thanks to Bioware for creating Mass Effect in general, and armor customization in ME2, the sole inspiration for this fanfic.


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